“In order to continue to prevent the spread of COVID, the U.S., Mexico, & Canada will extend the restrictions on non-essential travel through Jan. 21,” Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf announced on Twitter, according to the Buffalo News. “We are working closely with Mexico & Canada to keep essential trade & travel open while also protecting our citizens from the virus.”
Similarly, according to CBC Canada News, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: “Update on our border: To keep Canadians safe, we’ve extended the measures currently in place at the Canada-US border by another 30 days. Non-essential travel between our two countries remains restricted until at least January 21st, 2021.”
Canada and U.S. land border crossings have been closed to non-essential traffic since March 21, and have been renewed on a monthly basis since then. The restriction on travel between the two countries was due to expire on December 21, but was extended another 30 days,
Under the closure, the only people allowed to cross the border are people traveling for medical, educational, governmental, commercial, or military purposes. Canada has a more relaxed rule than the U.S. governing close family members and significant others who want to enter the country. They are allowed to enter Canada so long as they obtain authorization and agree to quarantine for 14 days.
Trudeau’s decision to extend the border closure into January was expected., reports the Bellingham Herald. Earlier this past week, Trudeau spoke at a virtual meeting of the Assembly of First Nations, saying he had no plans to give in to pressure and open the border too soon and that doing so could be catastrophic.
“It would be a real shame to open things too quickly and see vulnerability,” Trudeau said. “I’m going to be very, very cautious when it comes to keeping Canadians safe even if there’s lots of pressure to allow international travel again.”
The border closures have don’t caused a huge crimp in the trade of goods between the two countries. Close to $28.4 billion worth of freight crossed the U.S.-Canada border in trucks, the Bureau of Transportation reported, which was up 1.9 percent over August, but down 1.9 percent from last year. Rail freight over the border was valued at $7.5 billion — up. 2.3 percent from August, but down 6.6 percent from last year.
